Saturday, April 27, 2013

Dragon Run by Patrick Matthew

I really like books about dragons and I had high hopes for this one. The premise was actually pretty cool. On Testing Day kids find out their rank. It's kind of a caste system. The kids are all worried they will be a 2 or even a 1. So when Al is ranked as a zero it's unthinkable. In fact, he never even knew there was such a thing. Why? Because zeros and their families get culled. So Al runs away and his family acts like he was adopted. Great. But Al isn't done. With some help from friends, other creatures, and some unlikely allies he finds out that as a zero he can actually be a hero. The premise was good but I felt the book dragged in places and there were some aspects that weren't fully developed - potentia, porta, the magic. So can I give it a ribbet? Hmmm...not fully. But it wasn't really a croak either. I'd have to say it's a ribbak - mostly a ribbet but a partial croak. I don't have a frog picture that will match that - sorry.